BAGHDAD, April 29: Six Iraqi security officers and one civilian were killed in bombings and shootings across Iraq on Saturday, as leaders prepared for negotiations over the next government.

Two police officials died when a roadside bomb hit a convoy carrying the police chief of Baiji, a northern town known for its oil refinery.

Five policemen were also wounded in the attack, apparently targeting police chief Sufian Mustafa, who escaped unscathed.

In another attack, two people, including a policeman, were killed execution-style when gunmen grabbed them in Zurf al Sakhar, a village some 65kms south of Baghdad.

“The gunmen took the two out of their houses and shot them in front of their homes,” an interior ministry official said.

One police commando was killed and three others wounded by a roadside bomb targeting their patrol in north-western Baghdad’s Al Ghazalia neighbourhood.

Two Iraqi army soldiers were killed and six others wounded when guerillas opened fire on their convoy in Suwera, southeast of Baghdad, an interior ministry official said.

Also in Suwera, five bodies were found floating in the Tigris river, while two other bodies were recovered in Baghdad.

The corpses were riddled with bullets in what has become a common sight since the February bombing of a shrine north of Baghdad.

The sectarian-fuelled strife has uprooted tens of thousands of Iraqis from their homes as families flee neighbourhoods where they once lived in peace with other sects.

Nearly 14,000 families are now homeless as a result of the violence, Iraq’s outgoing minister of migration, Suhaila Abed Jaafar, said in an interview.

The number translates to more than 70,000 individuals.

BAQUBA CALM: Baquba, the restive city northeast of Baghdad, remained calm after two days of battle between security forces and guerillas. On Saturday authorities lifted a two-day curfew after fighting eased.